Last updated: August 11, 2023
Place
Garden Bowl
"Garden Bowl" by Travis Estell, via Flickr, is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
Quick Facts
Location:
4104-4120 Woodward Ave, Detroit, Michigan
Significance:
Entertainment/Recreation
Designation:
Listed in the National Register - Reference number 08000578
MANAGED BY:
Garden Bowl in Detroit, Michigan was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2008. The property is significant as Detroit's oldest continuously operating bowling alley, and for its role in Detroit's status as one of the country's leading bowling towns in the mid-20th century.
Garden Bowl first opened in 1913, as the area's fourteenth commercial bowling alley. The popularity of the sport increased when the country's largest bowling center was built in the city in 1917, which contained four floors of alleys with 22 alleys per floor. By 1955, an article claimed that 250,000 Detroiters, which was one in seven residents, were bowlers.
When Garden Bowl first opened, bowling was an upscale sport for men, who often wore ties, white shirts, and sleeve garters. These men were greeted by a concierge, and had the option to have their hats blocked, cigars dampened, and shoes shined. As the demographics of the sport, and the city, shifted, however, the lanes were updated to attract new, younger audiences. During a 1966 renovation, the building was updated with contemporary "jet-age" metal grillwork on its facade and underlane returns. As more populations moved to the suburbs during the second half of the 20th century, the bowling alley began catering to Asian American, Appalachian, and Black communities.
Today, Garden Bowl is popular for its "Rock 'n Bowl" nights, where disk jockeys play music while patrons bowl in glow-in-the-dark lanes. The second floor, which used to feature twelve bowling lanes, was covered over to create a dance area, now called the Magic Stick.
Garden Bowl first opened in 1913, as the area's fourteenth commercial bowling alley. The popularity of the sport increased when the country's largest bowling center was built in the city in 1917, which contained four floors of alleys with 22 alleys per floor. By 1955, an article claimed that 250,000 Detroiters, which was one in seven residents, were bowlers.
When Garden Bowl first opened, bowling was an upscale sport for men, who often wore ties, white shirts, and sleeve garters. These men were greeted by a concierge, and had the option to have their hats blocked, cigars dampened, and shoes shined. As the demographics of the sport, and the city, shifted, however, the lanes were updated to attract new, younger audiences. During a 1966 renovation, the building was updated with contemporary "jet-age" metal grillwork on its facade and underlane returns. As more populations moved to the suburbs during the second half of the 20th century, the bowling alley began catering to Asian American, Appalachian, and Black communities.
Today, Garden Bowl is popular for its "Rock 'n Bowl" nights, where disk jockeys play music while patrons bowl in glow-in-the-dark lanes. The second floor, which used to feature twelve bowling lanes, was covered over to create a dance area, now called the Magic Stick.